Mr.Nobuyoshi Araki, he is my longtime idol.Yesterday he took my portrait photographs at Roppongi some studio.It was a wonderful shooting time !Even in normal times, the moment of shooting was always releasing a genius AURA!

Continuation of the previous page→Even if seen as extremely successful by society at large, an artist is merely a weak individual. An artists creates works in order to supplement some ordinary yet essential elements that the viewers may possess as a matter-of-course but are lacking in him. Of course, an artist is meant to seek out the locus of emotions that are nearly impossible to share with others, so perhaps you may insist that an ambivalent standing position is a given for the occupation; that an artist must fulfill his basic duties nonetheless. But this is why some artists engage in escapist activities, while others, with a strong sense of responsibility, end up taking their own lives.

Because this was his first show in Tokyo in a while, and perhaps due to social media effects as we allowed photography in the gallery, about 3,000 people have visited the show in two days. Unlike with our regular shows, we have security personnel monitoring safety at all hours, but we would like to ask for the visitors’ moral cooperation as well. (During the peak hours we had some incidents.) I would like to note that Kaikai Kiki Gallery is closed on Sundays and holidays. We are not aiming to be a public space like a museum, so we do ask the visitors for your kind understanding.📷 @ikkiogataEnglish translation @tabi_the_fat

Yoshitomo Nara’s solo exhibition opened at Kaikai Kiki Gallery this past Friday.There were many twists and turns leading up to the opening and along the way, on several occasions, we almost had to cancel the show itself. In my thinking, this was due to the gap between how Nara deems things should be and all the undesirable experiences he has had to date, as well as to lack of dialogue aimed at bridging that gap. And so he and I repeatedly discussed (over a messaging app that is) his skepticism, ever-changing feelings, relationships, etc.; gradually accumulated moments of mutual understanding; and in the end were able to open the show. The fact is that, for good or bad, an artist occupies a singular place in ordinary society. Because of this singularity, the viewer may experience a liberation of their soul when seeing his work or be irresistibly moved by the words or actions of the artist. Yet the artist himself only initially enjoys the warm acceptance; soon he starts to despair the gap between the whole point of his work and the reason the viewers accept his work—though of course he would just as quickly despair if it weren't accepted. This may seem like an emotional oscillation of a selfish person, but it’s a fact that an artist would find himself in the depths of such despair. It is precisely in search for salvation from this despair that an artist creates works.

At the opening on Friday, Nara ended up only staying in the gallery for a few minutes. He didn’t want to be the subject of the visitors’ cellphone photos. Having run away from the gallery, he sat in the waiting room, groaning at the floor.→ next page📷 @ikkiogataEnglish translation @tabi_the_fat